Growing up is tricky business
by Katie-joe
Summary: North told me that, at some point, all children start to lose belief in us. We become stories and myths but nothing more. It physically hurt me to think that one day, Jamie might not be able to see me anymore. I would be nothing but a ghost. A distant memory of his past. I couldn't let that happen to him. I refused to let him forget me. I wouldn't be able to cope with that.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: watch the movie the other day and completely fell in love. i had to write something about it.**

**this is my first story EVER so please be nice, this is just a warm-up chapter, the plot (if you can call it that, it's just going through Jamie's life) will begin next chapter.**

**please be nice and review! but for now: Enjoy!**

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It had been years since it happened. Since the final battle between Pitch Black and us, The Guardians, light against dark, good versus evil. Years since I met the first little boy to ever believe in me, to hear me, to see me. Years since I was seen by human eyes for the first time in my new life.

Yet I remember it all like it happened yesterday.

Meeting Jamie had to be one of the best things to ever happen to me. I had finally come to accept that no matter what I did, no matter who I made deals with, no matter how much I pleaded with the Man on the Moon; I would never understand my purpose on this planet. I would never understand the sole reason why I was put here. But it didn't matter. Because even if I didn't understand _why_ I was here, I would have to live out the rest of eternity here anyway. I couldn't escape my duty.

No one would ever see me. I would _exist,_ but you wouldn't be able to call it _living_, not really. I would be the forgotten character, only ever present in children's bedtime stories about the winter (mostly presented as the bad guy, might I add) or silly little winter-time sayings like: 'Don't let Jack Frost nip at your nose'. And after I was forgotten completely, not even present as a myth, I would start to fade; start to dissipate into nothingness, leaving the duty to carry the winter to another unfortunate soul.

Luckily for me, Jamie prevented this.

* * *

I remember the first night that we met properly. By 'properly' I mean _him_ being able to see _me_, instead of me lurking around corners and watching from windows as he lived his perfectly normal and uninteresting life (God, I sound like a stalker right now).

I remember feeling the sadness well up in my chest, watching him sit on the bed and talk to the stuffed bunny rabbit, begging it to show him that he was right, that it wasn't all a dream, he really had seen what he thought he had seen like it would somehow give him the answers that he wanted. I felt angry at myself. It was my fault that the Easter egg hunt failed. I was warned that it was a trap, but I ignored it, my curiosity and pride larger than my common sense, and… boy… did I pay for that!

I had to do something. This was the last child, maybe on the entire planet, who still believed. I would rather die than watch as he lost his faith and in that moment alone I knew I had to do something, give him some sort of sign. Obviously, this would have been a whole lot easier if he were able to see me, but I would just have to deal with that for now.

I slowly walked over to the large glass windows and tapped one of the panes with the tip of my staff. Immediately, ice started to dance and curl from the tip, spreading across the glass as rapidly as wild fire, twisting and shimmering in the light as it covered the entire frame. Using the tip of my finger, I drew an Easter egg, complete with decorations onto the frozen glass. Granted, I'm not the best artist in the world, but you could tell what it was.

Jamie looked up, surprised, his eyes turning to find the source of the noise: the frost. I smiled and tapped the glass pane above the one with the Easter egg turning it frosty in a similar fashion, this time drawing a Rabbit. I watched as the confusion of his face changed to delight as he realised what this meant. It wasn't all a dream, he had really seen the Guardians.

_Well, most of them_ a little voice in the back of my mind said, but I ignored it.

Instead I looked at Jamie and then back to the window pane, focusing on the frost, trying to control it. The frost-rabbit twitched, and then bounced off the glass before hopping around the room. Jamie let out a laugh, spinning around to watch as the rabbit bounced around the room, before bursting into a shower of snow with a small 'pop'.

The snow fell lightly around the room, just settling for long enough to cause a thin layer to form over the furniture. A small snow flake drifted lazily down from the ceiling, landing lightly on the tip of Jamie's nose. It was at that moment that everything changed.

'Jack Frost'

I looked up sharply, my eyes fixed on the boy who had just whispered my name. it couldn't be… could it?

'Jack Frost?'

A question this time.

He turned around. I remember the look of confusion, which changed to wonder, as he finally clocked on to who the strange boy standing in his room was. He breathed out my name one last time, more like a confirmation than a question

'But that's me, Jack Frost. He said my name' I couldn't help but say out loud. I had become so accustomed to being invisible to those around me, so accustomed to speaking out loud because no one could hear me that it didn't quite click at first. 'You said my name.'

When the boy continued to look at me, mouth agape showing the gap where he had lost his tooth and eyes wide in disbelief, did it finally click inside my head and the smile slid off my face.

'Wait, can you hear me?'

I got a nod in return, only a slight nod, but it was enough.

'Can… Can you…see me?' I asked again, moving closer to the awestruck boy. Another nod.

I couldn't contain my excitement, couldn't contain the grin the grin that spread over my face or the laugh that burst from my lips, the first truly happy laugh in a long time. I could feel the sheer pleasure that built up in my gut, threatening to overflow. It felt like I was being heated from the inside out. My whole body felt warm (something that had not happened in a very, _very_ long time) and I got a pleasant knotting sensation in the pit of my stomach. I had to physically fight the urge to rush over and pull Jamie into a tight hug, instead taking a step back, trying to assess the whole situation.

'He… he sees me' I breathed out '_He sees me_!'

I jumped backwards onto his dresser, sitting on the edge whilst I tried to control my breathing. I was almost becoming hysterical. I looked over to Jamie who looked as if he was trying to find something suitable to say to me. To be fair, at this point he could have said anything to me and it wouldn't have mattered.

'You just made it _snow_!' he exclaimed, finally finding his voice

'I know'

'_In my room!' _he gestured wildly to the room, where the powdery white substance was starting to melt

'_I know_!'

The grin split over my face again. I couldn't have controlled it if I had tried. Jamie huffed out a breath and looked up at me

'You're real?' he asked, which I tried not to be offended by, I mean, after all, this was the first time that he had seen me, I would have been sceptical too.

'Yeah, I'm real.' I said, getting off of the dresser and walking (almost bouncing) around the room, not able to hide the new spring in my step. 'Who do you think brings you all of the blizzards and… and the snow days? And you remember when you went flying on that sledge the other day?'

'That was you?' he asked, grinning from ear to ear

'That was _me_!' I clarified

'Cool!'

'I know right?'

It was at this point that I knew. I knew that my life was going to change.

**TBC**

**this will be a multi-chapter fic but i'm afraid that the rest will be coming later!**

**please review**

**loads of love: Katie-joe! x**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: hi again guys, thanks for sticking with me and for the 4 wonderful reviews! the absolutely made my day.**

**just though that i should put out there: in the film, i imagined Jack to be around 17/18 and Jamie to be around 10. this story will be able Jamie gradually growing up and, in this chapter, he'll be nearly 13 (i had forgotten that i didn't put in a time range).**

**it will be boyXboy (nothing graphic... i feel too embarrassed) so if you don't like this,**** then please do not read.**

**anywho... on with the story!**

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Since that day, I've hung around Jamie.

Watching.

I've stuck by his side as he's grown up. I enjoyed that a lot more than I thought I would. I thought that it would be sad, seeing him start to get taller and more mature, but it wasn't. I liked watching how excited he would get every time he'd check how tall he was, only to find that he had grown another inch. I'd joke that he'd be taller than me soon which he would smile at and say that it was something he was looking forwards too.

I was there for him when he started his first day at middle school with a nervous smile one him face. I knew that he would be fine, but I reassured him that if everything went badly, then I would arrange a snow day for him. Nothing a little blizzard couldn't sort out. He laughed at this and hugged me around my middle making me feel warm inside.

It felt nice, almost like being an older brother again, but not exactly. It wasn't quite the same as it had been with my sister, but I don't know why.

However, as well as being there for all the good moments in his life, I was also there for all of the worst. I didn't mind it so much though because it meant that I was able to help him through them. But I felt bad for Jamie.

I was there with him as he watched all of his friends gradually start to lose belief in us Guardians. They began to believe that there was no battle; it was all just part of their vivid imagination, a game that they had made up to stave off the boredom.

I remember turning up at Jamie's house that evening to find him sitting on his bed, his eyes screwed tight shut in determination.

'Whatcha doing there, Buddy?' I called out to him from my spot on the partially open window. He had started to leave his window open for me after the night with Pitch so that I would be able to visit. Not that I really needed it. I could easily open any window that was shut, even if it was locked. After all, I was a trickster at heart. His eyes flew open, deep rich brown meeting my own pale blue. Upon seeing me he breathed a sigh of relief.

'They don't believe in you anymore.' He said softly, his eyes brimming with tears 'they don't believe in any of you; they think it was all a game. They think that it was just something that we made up. You have to prove to them that they're wrong! They'll remember if they can see you again.'

I sighed and moved to sit down next to him; I had been expecting this to happen for a while now, so it wasn't really surprising to me. During my stay in the Pole with the rest of the Guardians, North had started up a conversation with me and told me everything that I needed to know now that I was one of them. He had told me that, at some point, normally in the cross from a child becoming a teenager, that all children would start to lose faith. There was nothing that we could do to prevent this, it was just something that happened. All we could do was sit by and watch as the ones we had once cared for grew up and forgot all about us. I was sad, yes. Obviously we would be affected by this but it didn't really matter in the long run, new babies were being born every second, there would always be more children that believed in us. _Always_.

This didn't make it any less hard though, when a child that you had looked out for for years suddenly lost faith but, as I said, there was nothing that you could do to prevent it.

'Listen, Buddy,' I said, putting my arm around his thin shoulders 'I'm really sorry, but I can't change their opinion; I can't tell them that they're wrong. It's kinda against the rules. You of all people should know that seeing isn't always believing.'

He leaned into my touch, resting his head against my shoulders and burying his face into my neck. We stayed like that for a long time in silence until Jamie finally spoke up.

'I'm scared.' He said at last.' What if I start to not believe as well, what if I start to believe that it was all just a game?'

I would have been lying if I said that the thought hadn't crossed my mind because, in all honesty, it had.

It hurt me. I mean, physically hurt me to think that someday soon, Jamie might not be able to see me. The though had been circulating my head ever since my conversation with North. If all children forgot in the crossing from child to teenager, then that day could be any day now!

I hate to think of a day where Jamie wouldn't be able to see me. When he'd just pass through me when he walked. When I would call out to him and my voice would fall on deaf ears, the only indication that I had been there at all would be brief shiver, Goosebumps on his skin, misty breath in the air, his name being carried softly on the wind. But that is all.

I would stay by him though. There was something different about Jamie, something special. I had grown attached to him. I had been watching him grow up for almost three years now, and there wasn't anything anyone could do to stop me from continuing. Even if he couldn't see me, I would be the ghost in the background, always watching out for him, making sure that he was happy and having fun no matter where he was, after all, that was my job as a Guardian.

'Don't worry, Buddy' I said to him, ruffling his hair lightly 'I won't let you forget, it'll take a lot more than that to get rid of me. Just ask Bunnymund if you don't believe me.'

I meant every word of that, Bunny had been trying to get rid of me for the better part of 100 years, but I'm stubborn. And once I've made up my mind, then there's almost no changing it. Plus, it kept me in better spirits and made me laugh every time Bunny would try, in vain, to get me to leave him alone.

He looked up at me with a watery grin before tightening his arms around my waist.

'Do you promise?' he asked

'I promise.'

Of course I promised him. _I won't let you stop believing in me, Jamie._

**TBC**

**sorry that my chapters are really short... they'll probably get longer soon!**

**please read and review!**

**Katie-joe xx**


	3. Chapter 3

**hey everyone, i'm back! thank you for all the lovely reviews, they have really made my day. Especially because they're all so encouraging!**

**have a happy *insert holiday that doesn't offend you*! over here in England no one really gets offended at 'Merry christmas' but i know that some might, so happy holidays!**

**Brief rant: what is this madness?! 379 people have read this story, but only 7 have reviewed :O!**

**in this chapter Jamie is 15... roughly... Jack is the same age!**

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'Honey, I'm home' I called from the open window. I leaned against the white, wooden frame, twirling my staff lightly in my hands.

Jamie was across on the other side of the room, typing away on his laptop. With his back turned towards me.

'Did you miss me?' I asked, smiling playfully.

I had been gone for a couple of days (okay, I had been gone for two months but hey, I was the spirit of winter. I had quite a lot of other jobs that I had to do. Jobs that I had been ignoring for a long time!) I stuck true to my word, not letting Jamie forget me. Not really giving him enough time to forget me. I tried to visit him on a near daily bases, even if it was only for a couple of minutes or to ask how his day had gone, but that did not always go according to plan. I still saw him pretty regularly tough, two weeks absence at the most. So this was the longest that I had gone without seeing him for quite a long time.

I really missed him. More than I thought I would. So it was nice to be back again.

'Jamie' I called to him, stepping inside his room but not making any advances towards him 'Jamie can you hear me? Or do you have your headphones in again?'

He was sitting at his desk, turned away from me. He had a word document open so I assumed it was his school work. Since he started school this year, the teachers had really come down on him, giving him enormous amounts of homework. I was thankful that I didn't go to school! It seemed that whenever I saw him now days, he was busy with his work. He seemed very focused on what he was doing, but it didn't look like he was listening to any music.

'Jamie' I called again in a sing song voice 'oh Jaaaamie! Is everything okay over there buddy? Is this a bad time? I can come back another time, you know.'

He sighed from where he was sitting and stood up, pushing his chair back slightly so it scraped along the floor. He reached up, stretching his arms above his head and yawning before turning around and walking in my general direction.

'Well it's about time you came and said hello' I told him, leaning against my staff and watching him 'what were you doing anyway? Homework?'

But I didn't get a reply; in fact he walked right past me, not even making eye contact and went over to his bedside table, rummaging around for a little bit.

'Hey,' I tried again 'Have I done anything to upset you? Or is there no particular reason as to _why _you're ignoring me.'

Again I got no reply. Not any indication that he had heard me, he just carried on rummaging around in his draw, muttering every now and then.

'Jamie.' I said again, sounding more stern than I had intended to 'Jamie, are you annoyed with me?'

'Ah ha!' he said triumphantly, pulling out a USB stick from the bottom of his draw 'I knew that I had it in here somewhere'

'Jamie?' I whispered as he walked past me, again making no indication that he even noticed I was there.

'_Jamie?!' _No answer.

It was almost like he couldn't … no… _No._

No no no no no no no no no… _Jamie…_ Please God no.

_He can't see me._

I felt panic enter my system, flooding through my entire body and causing my gut to twist in a horrible, painful way.

I had been gone for too long. I had let him forget. It was my fault. _My fault!_

I had tried so, so hard. I had tried to make sure that this wouldn't happen. How could I have been so stupid?

Cold flooded my body. Not the pleasant cold that I produce, but the spine numbing, hollow, painful cold. Tears pricked in my eyes, threatening to spill over the edge

'_I won't let you go without a fight, Jamie.' _I thought '_not a chance in hell. You mean way too much to me. I promised you that I wouldn't let you forget me and I meant that.' _

'JAMIE!' I shouted at him in a last desperate attempt. Anything to get him to see me again.

Suddenly his shoulders started to shake and a giggle escaped his lips, which then turned into a laugh.

'I'm sorry' Jamie said between breaths 'I know that was mean, but I couldn't resist. Consider that payback for that sledging accident all those years ago. Couches _hurt_, you know?'

It took a little bit of time for my mind to process what had just happened. That he had been faking it. But when it did register…

All of the panic that I had been feeling quickly dissipated from my body, only to be replaced with a mix between relief and anger… mostly anger though.

I flew at Jamie, successfully pushing him from his chair and tackling him (not too gently) to the ground.

'Woah…'

'You absolute _ass _James Bennett' I growled angrily using his full name instead of his nickname 'You complete and total ass!'

'Do you have any idea how scared I was? _Do you?' _ I continued my rant. He struggled against me but I didn't want to let him up quite yet so I pinned his hands above his head, bringing my face closer to his until our noses were just inches away 'I should have every right to punch you right now' I hissed at him 'and to be perfectly honest with you, I'm seriously debating it.'

Instead, I leaned down and buried my face into the juncture between his shoulder and neck and wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug

'Never do that again… do you hear me? _Never.'_

'Jack? Um... could you…'

'Talk and I'll punch you' I said, interrupting him mid-sentence. I didn't want to hear anything right now, I just wanted to know that I could be seen, heard, touched, because he believed in me. Jamie seemed to realise that, in the mood I was in now, it was probably better just to accept what I was saying than to fight me because he returned the gesture and wrapped his arms around my back, pulling me close.

'Not that I'm not enjoying this,' Jamie said from underneath me 'but could you maybe get up now? You're not as light as you look and I'm finding it a little bit hard to breath.'

I smiled and pulled back so that I was sitting up right.

'Um… maybe… could' Jamie blushed heavily suddenly and he cleared his throat 'um… Do you think that we could move from this position? Only that I looks a bit… well…'

I looked at how we were sitting, me straddling his hips and stood up quickly.

'Yeah, sorry about that.' I said.

'So do you wanna tell me what you were so angry about? I mean, I knew that you were going to be annoyed, but I wasn't expecting a reaction like that!'

I felt a little bit bad about my over-reaction, but in my defence. I was terrified that I had just lost Jamie.

'I'm sorry,' I told him 'it's just… I thought that you had stopped believing in me. I thought that, because I had been gone for so long, you had forgotten about me. I thought that I had failed you.'

'Jack' Jamie said, laughing lightly and placing his hand on my shoulder 'you're not going to get rid of me that easily. I'm a believer for life, remember?'

I smiled at him and he gave me a toothy grin back.

'And yes. I almost forgot. Welcome back!'

**Thank you for reading!**

**Please leave a review to tell me what you though... or what i spelt wrong!**

**Katie- joe xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hiya guys, i'm back, did you miss me? sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up. there were jobs that needed to be done and i kinda lost track of timings! **

**HAPPY (belated) NEW YEAR GUYS! Hope that it's absolutely awesome and that you actually achieve your resolutions (i never do) **

**this is also a note to say that this will be the last chapter sue to the fact that have a shit load of exams coming up this month which i really really haven't prepared for!**

**Enjoy this final chapter and it has been lovely to have you all as readers! thank you to everyone who reviewed for chapter 3, i walked around the house grinning like an idiot for the better part of an hour for them!**

**Anywho: enough with the AN and on with the story... enjoy! :D (Jamie is 17/18 and Jack is 18)**

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He was seventeen when it finally happened. I knew that it would. In fact, I had been expecting it. Jamie had always been a curious boy, since the moment I met him and before. Always reading books about myths and possible creatures, like Big-Foot or yetis (I didn't know about Big-Foot, but I had assured him that, yes, yetis were real). So it was only a matter of time until he asked the question that he had been dying to ask for seven years. I had to give it to him for his patience and self-control. If it were me then I would have given up and asked, but I guess that he must have felt uncomfortable about it.

We were hanging out in his room when it happened. I had spent the entire day around him, even going to school with him, standing in the back of the classroom making loud, obnoxious comments about what the teacher was saying that would make him burst out laughing and cause everyone to give him strange looks because he was the only one who could still see me. He wasn't very happy with me for that surprisingly.

'I look crazy' he had whispered at me during lunch 'no one else knows that I'm laughing at what you're saying!'

He had been a little big annoyed with me, but it hadn't lasted for very long. It never does. By the next lesson we had slipped back into our easy pattern of messing around and joking.

Honestly I have no idea how he could put up with school, it was possibly one of the worst forms of mental torture that I have ever encountered. The whole place was just so _dull! _I had to hand it to Jamie for putting up with it for a majority of his life.

Once he had finished school (_finally_), we decided that both of us were too worn out for our usual snowball fight or walk into the forest by the pond, instead deciding to stay in his room where it was nice and warm.

I may be the spirit of winter, but even I can appreciate a warm room on a cold day.

'Honestly,' I said as soon as we had gotten through his bedroom door 'I don't know how you deal with it. That was the most boring thing I have ever done… _ever._ And that's saying something; I have been around for a long time, my friend._'_

'Oh, quit being melodramatic.' Jamie replied, flinging himself down onto his bed, lying on his back with his arms propped behind his head, the perfect image of being relaxed or laid back. 'Today wasn't even that bad. You should see the day I have to face on Thursdays!'

'I don't want to, not anymore; you'll never get me back there again'

'I'm sure that there could be some way that I could… _persuade_ … you to come with me again' he all but purred, smirking at me.

'I'd like to see you try' I shot right back 'and you should respect your elders, I'm nearly nineteen times older than you after all.'

He smiled at my comment and stared back up at the ceiling as if he were contemplating what to do next.

'So what do you want to do then?' he asked 'I don't have any homework to do for once.'

'I don't know. What do you feel like doing?'

'We could watch a movie. How do you feel about 'Frosty the snowman?'

'My favourite movie, how did you know?' I replied, sarcasm dripping from my every work.

He smiled at me.

'Hey, Jack. Can I ask you a question?'

'Ask away.'

'I've always wondered' he said, leaning up from his lying position on the bed and then resting back on his forearms. 'Why is it that you look so much younger than the rest of the Guardians? I mean, were you born like this? Created? Do you grow up? What?'

I sat silent for a second, stumped, not really too sure on how to answer this. Not really too sure on whether or not I _wanted_ to answer this. I had never told anyone about my past before, not even the other Guardians. I knew that they wouldn't judge me for it. In fact, they'd probably be proud of me for saving her or pity me for my loss, but that was just the problem. I didn't want their pity.

I had a feeling that Tooth knew though. She was the one who told me that teeth contained the child's memories. She was also the one to tell me that she had my baby teeth as well; it only made sense that she had seen my memories. To be fair, I didn't really mind. If she did know anything about me then she hadn't said or done anything which I greatly appreciated.

Was I finally ready to tell someone? I mean, if I was going to tell anyone then I guess it only made sense that I told Jamie. I had gotten so close to him that I knew he wouldn't do anything.

'Oh, 'Jamie said, seemingly understanding my awkward silence and interpreting it as something he had said wrong. 'You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I mean, if it's personal to you then don't worry about it, I didn't mean to intrude'

'No, no' I cut in quickly 'I don't mind telling you, it's just…. It's just been a while since I had a serious conversation with someone before. You're the first person who I told about my past.' I took a breath 'as for your other question: no. I don't grow up, not anymore. I look so much younger than the other Guardians because this is the age I was when I died. I was eighteen.'

'Whoa, wait' Jamie stammered, launching up quickly into sitting position and staring at me with a mixture of horror and pity 'Jack you've… you died? Shit, I'm so sorry, I had no idea, I shouldn't have…. I wouldn't have bought it up if I had known. I didn't even know that you were human once!'

I bought my hand up and covered his mouth to stop his babbling on, flashing him a small reassuring smile. It was funny to watch him stumble over his words. He looked so cute with the tips of his ears and his cheeks turning bright red that I almost wanted to watch him carry on trying to make amends, but I felt bad for letting him suffer for any longer

'Jamie, stop.' I told him, laughing lightly at his panicked expression 'honestly, it's fine. I promise you. I wouldn't have told you if I wasn't okay with this' I lay a hand on his shoulder and made him meet my eyes, trying to calm him down slightly. When his breathing returned to normal I turned up my nose, folded my arms in front of me and let some distain creep into my voice 'And anyway, keep quiet. I thought you _wanted _to hear my story'

He laughed lightly at my mock-stern expression and I fought the smile that threatened to pass over my face.

'I used to live here, you know?' I began 'my family used to live quite near to the lake in the middle of the forest. Our family was one of the first in Burgess, over three hundred years ago. It's weird. A lot has changed since then, but it's also the same. The same place where I grew up with my family and friends yet it's also an entirely different town.

The winters were much colder here, too. Colder than they are now. The snow would completely cover the entire landscape; cover every surface with the white dust. I loved the snow. I could spend hours in it, just messing around and I wouldn't feel cold at all, people used to joke that I was born in it and had become immune to it at birth.'

My throat caught. Not considerably, not enough no notice, but I knew why. This part was hard for me because I was going to introduce my family.

I looked at Jamie's open face and continued. 'I had a younger sister too. Pippa, her name was. She was brilliant. She had large hazel eyes and long brown hair. It was my duty as her older brother to look after her. It was my job.'

Jamie moved closer to me then, obviously noticing the tone in my voice, and put his arm around my shoulders.

'I had promised that I would teach her how to ice skate. All of the older children would do it on the lake in the winter but my mother would never let my sister go because she said that it was too dangerous and that Pippa was too young. When she was ten, the same age that you were when I met you, out mother said that I could teach her. She said that I should wait until winter again, until the ice was very thick and unbreakable, but I was too eager.'

Another deep breath in from me.

'I should have known. I should have listened to her. It was March; of course the ice was too thin. Whilst we were skating, the ice started to crack underneath her feet. I told her that she had to stay very, very still and that she had to stay on the same spot. I took of my skates so that I had a little bit more traction on the ice, more than I had with the skates on anyway. She was scared. So, so scared and it was my fault, I had to fix it.'

I gestured to my staff that was leaning by the foot of the bed.

'There was a large stick just out of my reach on the ice, but I knew what I could do if I reached it. I told her that we going to play a game. Hopscotch, like we play every day. I told her that we were going to have some fun. I managed to get her to laugh by pretending to slip and slide on the ice as I took three steps on the ice to reach the staff. As soon as I had it in my hands, I told her it was her turn to play, that she had to move three places. The first two steps that she took caused the ice to crack violently and I knew that I was running out of time, so on the third step I hooked this around her waist and pulled her forwards onto thicker ice.'

Jamie looked at me and his hand squeezed my shoulder.

'You did it' he said to me 'you saved her.'

'But for a price' I replied 'when I pulling her towards me, I fell forwards. The ice couldn't take my weight, it was too thin. And so it broke.'

I could hear Jamie breathing unevenly next to me, his hands rubbing soothing circles into my back.

'It was cold. Really, really cold. I hadn't learnt to swim so I didn't really stand a chance, but that wouldn't really matter. The coldness of the water paralysed your muscles so that you couldn't move. In less than a minute I had died. Drowned. The last thing that I remember seeing was the moon. It was so bright and so big and calming. It was also the first thing that I saw when I woke up. Except by that point I had no memories of who I was or what I was doing there. The only thing that I knew for fact was that my name was Jack Frost. The moon told me that.

After that I didn't really know what to do with myself. I didn't have any family that I knew of, no one could see me. And so I wondered around for nearly 300 years. And that's when I met you Jamie; you were the first person to ever see me.'

I looked at him then

'So that's it. That's the big story of my life. Pretty exciting, huh?'

Jamie stared at me, his eyes a mix of sadness and pity and something else entirely that I couldn't quite place. Without speaking, he reached up and placed a warm hand on my cheek. I barely had time to register what he was doing before he pulled my head down to his level and closed the distance between us, pressing his warm lips gently to my cooler ones.

Well. That was unexpected.

Before I had time to react to what had just happened, Jamie moved away, breaking the contact between us and ducking his head down, a slow red blush spreading across his face.

I touched my fingers to my lips which were tingling pleasantly and tried to form a coherent sentence.

'I shouldn't have done that' came a whisper from beside me 'I really shouldn't have done that. Jack, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make anything weird between us. It's just, you looked so… and the story… I had no idea that you… I'm sorry' he finished lamely, still avoiding eye contact with me.

'No, no' I said quickly, once I remembered how to speak 'it was just… unexpected… that's all. But not unwelcome…. I… when did this happen then?'

The blush returned, deeper this time, and Jamie looked bashful 'I've had a bit of a crush on you. For a while now. It started off as hero worship I guess, I mean, you were to coolest person that I knew. Literally. But it kinda progressed from there as I grew up. You know, you seem to be taking this a whole lot better than I thought that you would.'

'I told you' I replied, smiling slightly 'it wasn't an unwelcome change. Just a bit of a surprise I guess.'

'So… does that mean that you like me too?'

Instead of answering, I reached over and pulled him back to me, pressing our lips together, enjoying the contrast of feeling his much warmer lips on mine. Butterflies danced in my stomach as Jamie went pliant in my arms, relaxing into the kiss and winding his arms up to wrap around my neck, threading his fingers through my hair and running his nails lightly across my scalp making me shudder.

All of my senses were going into overload at him being so close to me. I had waited so long for this, always feeling that my interests were unrequited. It had always seemed so inappropriate when he was slightly younger. Hell, it felt inappropriate now, but I couldn't find it in myself to care. Not when he had just told me that he likes me too.

I hesitantly parted my lips under his, praying that I wasn't going too fast for him, that I wasn't going to scare him off. It seemed that my prayers were answered. Jamie responded almost immediately, parting his lips under mine and deepening the kiss and moaning slightly.

I pulled him even closer to me, tightening my arms around his waist and sucking his bottom lip gently between mine.

Jamie pulled away with a gasp, but kept his forehead pressed against mine, panting heavily

He grinned breathlessly 'I'll take that as a sign to say you like me too then shall I?'

I grinned back at him and gave him a chaste kiss

'Yeah. Yeah I guess that you could say that.'

'Well you took your time about it, I'll tell you that.'

He smiled at me then. A warm, open smile that I couldn't help but return.

Well, this had been a nice turn out of events.

* * *

**Fin.**

**i'm terrible at ending stories (they're always so vague) but hey-ho, it's done now!**

**thank you to everyone! please leave me a review to tell me what you think!**

**Loads and loads of love from Katie xxxxx**


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